


it's better this time than ever before

by 1to10



Series: sorority au [2]
Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band), TWICE (Band), twicevelvet - Fandom
Genre: F/F, a bit of side seulrene and mentions of other characters, a year after the original, and another idol but thats a fun little surprise at the end, brief cameo from an sm bg member, just a little snapshot into their lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27021382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1to10/pseuds/1to10
Summary: It wasn’t that she had expected everything to just come easy to her, because things usually didn’t end up working that way. But she had at least thought she wouldn’t be jumping through hoops for her bosses and their colleagues like this after this long. Maybe she had underestimated how much post college life was going to be.(sooyoung, sana, and one year later)
Relationships: Minatozaki Sana/Park Sooyoung | Joy
Series: sorority au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972036
Kudos: 29





	it's better this time than ever before

**Author's Note:**

> quick note: i made the creative decision for them all to start going by their legal names from this story and beyond because it seemed more fitting as they're growing up and in the true "adult" parts of their lives

A large stack of documents makes a loud slapping sound as they fall against Sooyoung’s desk right next to her arm.

She stiffens, with one of her superiors looming over her, mostly likely waiting for her to turn around so they can give an explanation of what they were leaving for her to do.

Slowly, she turns her chair around only to see one of her managers Kim Kibum waiting for her with a dry smile.

“Sorry to drop these on you suddenly but we’ll need them by the end of the day. You can just leave them on my desk when you’re finished.”

Sooyoung feels anxiety start to churn in her stomach. She glances over her shoulder, looking at the work she  _ already  _ had to finish. These would take her all day and she had been wanting to go out with Sana tonight.

If she worked quickly and put off some of her current work today, she could most likely finish everything without having to stay late. It’s not like she was in a position to say no to her boss.

She gives a curt nod and waits for him to walk off out of sight for her to turn around and start going through the reports she’d need to turn back to him soon enough.

Not wanting to only do something halfway, she gives her full attention to the work she had been given. By the time she’s mostly finished, a migraine is throbbing in her head. Not because of the work itself being hard, but because of the new trend of her bosses dropping everything on her. Sometimes it felt like they liked her even less than the newer people who knew how to do even less than she did.

But she didn’t say anything. Of course she wouldn’t. What would she even say? I think my bosses might be picking on me when it’s possible I just don’t fit in here anyway?

Nope. It’d just be a thing she would have to deal with.

\---

Pulling into the parking lot of her apartment building, Sooyoung turns off her car. Even though she so badly just wants to go up to her apartment to see her girlfriend, she gives herself these few extra minutes of solitude in her car.

It was almost embarrassing how exhausted she was, mostly emotionally.

She had been at her job for just about a year now. It was what she had figured she’d be doing. An office job, perfectly within her capabilities. But apparently, nothing was that simple.

Even after almost a year, she felt like everyone still hated her. Sure, she had some friends in the office. Or just what she’d call work friends at least. But she hadn’t hit the ground running like she had expected to.

It wasn’t that she had expected everything to just come easy to her, because things usually didn’t end up working that way. But she had at least thought she wouldn’t be jumping through hoops for her bosses and their colleagues like this after this long. Maybe she had underestimated how much post college life was going to be.

Long enough has passed now that she can hide her exhaustion and frustration from Sana. She makes her way up to their shared apartment. With a twist of her key, she’s in. Sana has her glasses on, sitting on the floor in front of the couch with her laptop open. 

Sooyoung sets her bag and jacket down on the table and drags herself over to the couch to sit near Sana. She leans over and plants a kiss on top of Sana’s head, which finally gets her noticed.

“Hi, sorry. I was really into finishing this paper and didn’t even hear you come in.”

She twists back to meet Sooyoung for an actual kiss before turning back to her laptop, but still giving her girlfriend half of her attention.

“How was work today?”

It wasn’t hard to answer this, because she gave almost the same answer almost every time. If she words it a little differently each time, it doesn’t seem as suspicious.

“It was great, like it usually is. I got a lot done today, I think. But I’m happy to be home.”

Sana hums, continuing to read whatever source she has opened on her browser.

“That’s good. Do you want to go out tonight? I know you said before that you wanted to sometime soon. So I’m almost done with this so I’d just have to get in the shower real quick and then I’d be ready.”

It almost sounds tempting. Almost. The thought of getting to go out with Sana and have fun. But she thinks about how the thought of just eating in and going straight to bed is even more tempting, and that wins out without a ton of thought.

“Can we just order in? I know I was the one who suggested going out but...I’m just not feeling it like I thought I was.”

“Yeah, of course.” Sana removes her laptop from her lap, moving it to the floor and turning her body fully around. “Are you okay?”

Sooyoung’s heart clenches a bit. She knows Sana is genuinely concerned for her. But she can’t imagine putting her stress onto Sana’s shoulders with how well she’s doing right now. It would only bring her down, and that’s the last thing Sooyoung wants.

“I’m just tired. We’ll still go out with Joohyun and Seulgi soon, okay?”

Sana nods but still eyes her with concern. She leans up and pulls Sooyoung down for another, longer kiss. Sooyoung almost lets herself get lost in it, but pulls away while Sana pouts in response. Sana doesn’t waste many more seconds after that before standing up and digging through her pocket for her phone.

“Go shower and get comfortable, I’ll take care of dinner.”

\---

Another long day at work, another heap of pent up emotions she refuses to push onto Sana.

Sooyoung is home hours later than she wanted to be, hoping that her girlfriend didn’t decide to wait up for her after all. Her stupid bosses and their stupid last minute reports that they could absolutely choose to finish themselves, but won’t.

Her apartment door swings up and there’s no greeting, no footsteps making their way towards her, no Sana working diligently on the couch. Sooyoung fishes her phone out of her pocket and sees she has an unread message from Sana, telling her she’ll be at the library until late.

Perfect actually. Because right now her number one urge is to collapse on her bed and scream into her pillow, something that may or may not alarm Sana if she had been in the apartment.

After dropping her work things on the table, she takes slow steps until she reaches her bed. With as little effort as possible, she flops down onto it.

If she had even slightly less impulse control, this would be where she quits her job and never looks back. That kind of impulse worked out well the first time for her, she reasoned. But she was fully an adult now. This job, which admittedly paid her quite well, was what kept a roof over her head. It paid her bills, helped her live somewhat comfortably, and supported both her and her girlfriend.

Quitting was just not an option, even though the thought would probably never go away until she could somehow prove herself at work or at least until they started treating her like somewhat of a human being. 

So for the time being, she was stuck there. She would just have to find a way to manage without alerting her girlfriend. Maybe a good old vent session with a friend would help relieve her stress a little bit.

Yerim was way too busy drinking her way through Europe so that was a no go. Nayeon had somehow gotten time off from her job and was also traveling with her so she was off the table. But maybe Joohyun would work. She was one of the hardest workers Sooyoung knew, and she typically had pretty good advice at times like this.

Moving around so that she’s laying on her pillow, she hits the call button for Joohyun’s number. She knows she probably wouldn’t appreciate an unscheduled facetime, so she’ll stick to regular phone call for now.

_ “Hello?” _

“Hey,” Sooyoung shifts around a bit, making herself more comfortable. “Are you busy?”

_ “Not at the moment, no. Is everything okay?” _

She was good at catching on to these kinds of things. 

“Define okay.” She hears Joohyun snort.

_ “You’re being unusually evasive already. What happened?” _

“Have you ever been really bad at something that you thought you’d be good at? Like, really bad.”

It goes silent for a few moments.  _ “You and Sana aren’t having relationship problems, are you? Because I don’t really feel qualified to talk about that kind of thing with y-” _

“No! No, we’re fine.” Sooyoung uses her free hand to rub her temple and sighs. “Me and Sana are great, in fact I feel like currently she’s the only great thing I have going for me.”

It goes silent again, and Joohyun is probably doing her best to figure out exactly what to say next without hitting a nerve.

“It’s just...my job. Joohyun, I’m floundering. Everybody there hates me, especially my bosses. I don’t think I can do anything right. Everything gets dropped to me since I’m so low on the totem pole, and. I feel like I’ve already failed.”

_ “I get what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s too unusual for someone considered a newbie to be put through the ringer.” _

Sooyoung huffs. “I mean yeah but like...it’s been about a year now. After a year most people get at least a strained thanks or have one work ally. I don’t have any of that. And I should be good at this! It’s not like I don’t have social skills or I’m a bad worker. I thrived in college, and now look at me.”

_ “School success doesn’t necessarily translate to post school success. That doesn’t mean you aren’t good, but most things in life don’t always work out the way they would on paper.” _

The thing about Joohyun is that she had a habit of being annoyingly correct way too often. Having it laid out in front of her did make Sooyoung feel better in a way, but she needed some kind of answer that Joohyun realistically couldn’t give to her.

_ “Are you okay though? Do you want to come over and drink or something?” _

“Tempting, but I’m gonna have to pass. Too tired to even get out of bed. Here’s hoping Sana will be willing to throw some food at me from the kitchen. I’m gonna go though, and shower or something. Talk to you soon.”

They finish saying their goodbyes and Sooyoung drops her phone on the other side of the bed. She’d worry about her problems and everything else later, but for now she was going to let herself fall into a very well deserved nap.

\---

After weeks of having to put it off, Sooyoung finally feels okay enough to go on the double date that Sana had been bugging her for since forever.

She wouldn’t really call them friends, but Sana and Joohyun got along pretty well now. They wouldn’t hang out by themselves together or anything like that, but they’d share the occasional funny tweet with each other. The occasional sharing of content had led to them talking, and that talking had led to the decision to somehow drag Sooyoung and Seulgi into a double date.

They were more alike than they realized, Sooyoung thought to herself. But she knew there would always be an underlying possessiveness with Sana towards Joohyun because of their college days, and she couldn’t exactly blame her girlfriend for that.

Stopping short of entering the restaurant, Sana gently tugs at Sooyoung’s wrist to grab her attention.

“I know you said you were okay with it and everything...but you’re really okay right? You’ve just been...off. And if you don’t want to be here, we can tell them I got sick and then we’ll turn around and go straight home.”

Sooyoung blinks, turning around to fully face her. Even her best acting couldn’t completely fool Sana. It was probably a result of how guilty she felt lying to her, even if it was for Sana’s sake in the end.

“I’m fine, really. I’m happy to be here with you and my friends. Let’s go inside, okay? We shouldn’t make them wait any longer since we’re already a little bit late.”

Sana eyes her cautiously, but nods. Sooyoung gives her a grin before pulling her in to kiss her on the cheek.

They walk in hands intertwined, and see the other couple sitting close to the back. The host leads them to their table and when they get there, Sooyoung really isn’t that surprised to find them bickering. It was kind of their love language.

Joohyun, finally noticing their arrival, stops whatever conversation that Seulgi and her were in the middle of.

“Hey! What took you guys so long?” Both of their attentions have turned to Sooyoung and Sana now. Seulgi gives them a bright and welcoming grin while Joohyun smiles politely.

Sana scoots to the end of the booth with Sooyoung settling down beside her. Sooyoung’s arm quickly finds its way over Sana’s shoulders and Sana happily leans in close.

“Sorry Seulgi, we would have been sooner but traffic was killer.” Sana is quick to explain while using her right hand to flip open the menu in front of her.

Falling into casual conversation is easy for the four of them. Sooyoung felt like she had known the other couple for so long that no matter how long they went without seeing each other, it would be easy to pick back up where they left off. And even though Sana had come in later, she had firmly cemented herself as a permanent part of their larger friend group.

“So, Sana, how is grad school?” Seulgi questions casually. She’s never been the type to have to try very hard to have to include everyone, it seemed like a very natural skill for her.

“It’s honestly going pretty well. Not exactly easy, but I feel good about what I’m doing.”

“That’s great! I know things aren’t going very well for Sooyoung at work so at least things seem good on your end.”

It takes a second to register exactly what had just happened, with realization hitting Sooyoung and Joohyun at the same time. Joohyun gently elbows Seulgi, with her girlfriend still looking somewhat confused. Sana squints, looking between Seulgi and Sooyoung.

“What are you talking about?”

Sana’s attention seems more focused on Sooyoung now, as Sooyoung notices Joohyun whispering what is most likely an explanation in her ear. Seulgi at least looks embarrassed, with Sooyoung knowing that she wouldn’t have shared if she had known it was something she didn’t want revealed at this point in time.

Sooyoung has pulled her arm off of Sana’s shoulders, feeling the tension in the air now. “We can talk about this at home, okay?” Her voice drops to a whisper, even though the only people in earshot were very aware of the situation.

“Work isn’t going well? Since when?” Sana almost sounds hurt, prying for any kind of reasonable answer that didn’t make her look like a fool.

She goes to answer when the waitress makes her arrival with their various plates of food. The four of them sit in awkward silence, only breaking it to thank said waitress.

Sana doesn’t attempt to revisit it again, but Sooyoung knows this won’t be the last she hears of it.

\---

The car ride home is silent. Sooyoung can’t pinpoint where the heaviness in the air comes from, but she knows it isn’t anger. From her side it’s full guilt, but Sana has yet to give away anything about what she’s feeling right now.

The walk up to their apartment and their bedtime routine is also silent. Sooyoung wants to talk to Sana, but doesn’t know what to say. She just feels stupid now, for all of it.

Sana takes a little longer than usual finishing up in the bathroom so Sooyoung goes by herself to get into bed. She lays on her side, facing away from the door.

She hears Sana flip the light switch off before slipping into bed herself. Sana doesn’t pull her in to cuddle or complain about Sooyoung not cuddling with her, and she can’t help but feel a little hurt.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

The suddenness of the soft voice surprises her, but what surprises her even more is the absence of any kind of irritation in it.

Sooyoung moves to lay on her back and tilts her head to the side to look at Sana. Sana is on her side now, watching Sooyoung carefully and anticipating whatever her response will be.

“Because I felt stupid. This was supposed to be something I could handle. I’ve been there for a year now, but I just…” She closes her eyes tightly and releases the breath of frustration she had been holding in. “It’s been a year. A whole year and I’ve made no kind of good impression there. My bosses don’t like me, I don’t have any true work friends besides some people I’m friendly with, and I always feel like I’m doing something wrong.”

Sana pushes off her side and moves to sit against the headboard now. “You shouldn’t feel stupid for that. None of that is your fault. I’m not saying it’ll last forever but sometimes it takes a long time for people to get out of those kinds of situations at their jobs. It happens to a lot of hardworking people.”

Sooyoung is staring at the ceiling now, taking in Sana’s words. She wasn’t wrong. But it was different for her for some reason. This was supposed to be her big break after breaking away from who she thought she had to be in college. None of it was supposed to go like this at all.

“I get why you feel the way you do. But Sooyoung...you went to Joohyun instead of me.”

The hurt tone forces Sooyoung to sit up and look Sana in the eyes. “It wasn’t like that. I just didn’t know who to talk to because I didn’t want to burden you and-”

Sana’s face scrunches together. “Burden me?”

Me and my stupid mouth, Sooyoung thinks to herself. She has to be careful navigating the next few sentences. “Yes because things have just been going so well for you, you know? I almost felt like it would’ve made me a bad girlfriend for putting it on you.”

It goes near silent after that, Sana inhaling deeply and tapping her fingers against her leg. She was thinking, no doubt looking for something to say that wouldn’t hurt Sooyoung’s feelings or give off the wrong impression.

“Sooyoung, those things aren’t a burden to me. You’re my girlfriend, we’re partners. When you’re hurting, I want to be able to help you.” She pauses, inhaling sharply. “And you know I’m over what happened with your ex, but you have to have at least thought a little bit about how that would make me feel…”

She reaches for Sana’s hand and pulls it into her lap. “I’m sorry. I know we’re all friends now, but I didn’t think how it might’ve been a sore spot in some ways. But it’s not anything like I trust her more, or feel more comfortable talking to her. But she’s one of my best friends, and we’re used to sharing stuff like that with each other.”

Some of Sana’s tension seems to have eased. She gives Sooyoung’s hand a light squeeze. “Are you saying that I’m not one of your best friends?”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes with a smile at the teasing tone. “Of course you are. But it’s different. Don’t tell the others but you might be my favorite.”

That prompts a real smile out of Sana finally before she leans in to give Sooyoung a reassuring kiss.

Sooyoung is the first to go pull away, but before she can she feels Sana’s hands reach up to keep her in place. She melts into the touch, feeling a little dizzy after Sana finally breaks the kiss.

“I want you to be able to talk to me about things, anything. In the future, don’t feel like you’re putting too much on me by sharing. Okay?”

Sooyoung hums, moving to lay down again but pulling Sana with her. They settle comfortably together, like they always do.

\---

To nobody’s surprise, being able to talk to Sana was a huge relief. Not only for Sooyoung being able to share her feelings about work, but also for Sana now that she knew what Sooyoung was really dealing with.

It didn’t mean that work stopped being any less of a pain. Because it still was. But now Sooyoung didn’t feel quite as alone.

Today was one of the rare days Sooyoung actually got to leave on time, and it puts an extra bounce in her step. All she wanted to do was be at home with her girlfriend and nothing more.

Upon entering her apartment, she’s immediately pounced on by Sana. Before she can even spare a greeting, the other girl has her hands on Sooyoung’s face pulling her into an exciting kiss. She doesn’t know what’s got her so worked up, but she’s the last one to complain about this kind of treatment.

When Sana finally pulls back Sooyoung can immediately tell there’s something else she wants to say, something on the tip of her tongue. Sooyoung places one more quick kiss on her lips for good measure. Sana sighs contentedly, both of them unwilling to detangle themselves from one another. 

“Hypothetically, if I asked you to get some time off work would you be able to?”

Sooyoung squints. “Did something happen? Is everything okay with your family?”

“Babe, just answer the question. Without jumping to the worst case scenario please.”

She sighs. She wasn’t the only who could be evasive when they wanted, although it was rather unusual for Sana.

“Hypothetically, if I wanted to, I could get some time off. Five days at the most, most likely.”

Sana nods, seemingly listening intently and fully taking in her words. A few seconds pass before she speaks again.

“Okay, that’s good. Another hypothetical. If I, hypothetically, told you that I booked us a vacation how would you feel?”

Sooyoung’s eyes widen and she pulls her head back a bit. “You booked us a vacation?”

“Mhm,” Sana hums, finally dropping her fake hypothetical act. “Just for a long weekend a few weeks from now since I figured you wouldn’t be able to take a lot of time off. I already worked out everything on my side so that’s already sorted. We can do something bigger next summer.”

Sometimes it shocks Sooyoung just how lucky she got with Sana. To find someone so attuned to her feelings and needs. There wasn’t anyone better for her really.

“I love you, you know that right?”

Sana giggles. “I do know that, but it’s nice to hear you say it. Maybe a few more times would be a good thank you.”

\---

A mini vacation turns out to be exactly what Sooyoung needed. Her first day back to the office and she doesn’t immediately feel dread walking through the doors. She instead feels lighter, happier. For now, things seemed manageable. 

She's decided she’d get back into her habit of drinking work coffee. It might not have tasted as good as some fancy latte a barista could whip up, but it’d save her both a bit of money and time on her way to work.

“You’re Park Sooyoung, right?”

Almost dropping her sugar packets from being scared by the voice suddenly behind her, she whips around. A woman with shoulder length brown hair that she doesn’t think she’s ever seen before giving her a tight lipped smile.

“Yes, that’s me. Sorry, have we met before?”

The woman’s eyes widened. “No, I’m sorry I realized I was told your name but you probably weren’t told mine. I’m Oh Hayoung. I filled in for you during your vacation. It’s nice to meet you finally.” Her slightly nervous frown turns into an equally nervous smile as she sticks her hand out.

Not wanting her to feel awkward, Sooyoung takes her hand and shakes it. “Are you from another department…?”

“I’m actually new, I was just finishing up my training when they kinda, threw me in?”

Sooyoung laughs dryly. “Yeah, that sounds about right. I’d expect nothing less from them.”

Hayoung’s nervousness seems to ease when she realizes Sooyoung isn’t going to snap at her or order her to go do something. “Is Manager Kibum always so...you know?”

“Oh, absolutely. He’s very uptight and god forbid you drop a report on his desk even half a second late.”

They both start laughing at that and something ever so slightly shifts. This was the first time Sooyoung had experienced anything close to a positive interaction in the office. It felt nice, refreshing. Maybe she had found a potential ally after all.

“I should probably get back since I have to be briefed on whatever I missed, but if you ever need anything then don’t be afraid to ask.”

Hayoung flashes her a bright smile before turning back around and heading back off to wherever she was needed at the moment.

For the rest of the day, Sooyoung revisits that moment in her head. She’s excited to tell Sana, to share this with her instead of hiding it away. Even if they didn’t end up becoming close or anything like that, it had potential to be someone she could share her job specific frustrations with. Frustrations that people outside the situation might not totally understand.

Making friends never used to feel like such a landmark event, but this could be a fresh start. 

**Author's Note:**

> aw i missed writing for this universe.....we still have more of them to see in the future i just thought this would be a nice little peak into their relationship a year later
> 
> title from the song comes from "i would do anything for you" by foster the people


End file.
